Episode 3.3
Synopsis This episode features two different types of threat - one from the past, one from the future. Diictodons, cute but surprisingly dangerous burrowing creatures, nearly cause a disaster at a hospital when an anomaly from the Permian era opens. Calamity is averted by Cutter, Connor, Abby and Becker who, in the course of the story, are obliged to get the creatures back to their own time while simultaneously delivering a (human) baby. Their task isn't helped by dogged journalist, Mick Harper, who is determined to catch one of the creatures and expose the ARC and its secrets to the world. By the end of the episode Connor finds that he has adopted two adorable new pets to join Rex in his menagerie. Meanwhile Lester, Jenny and Sarah are confronted with an attack on the ARC, led by Helen and a small army of 'Cleaner Replicas'. The rest of the team arrives in the nick of time and a battle plays out throughout the ARC. Will Helen finally win? Plot Helen Cutter is training her Cleaner clones for an unknown operation. Impressed with their efficiency, she orders one to jump from a high roof-top as a demonstration of her power. The clone initially shows reluctance, but Helen calmly orders him to and the clone obeys without a second thought, plummeting to his death. Helen turns away, after musing on the fact the clones do not fear death. At the ARC, Cutter is still working on his 'Matrix', explaining its function to an unimpressed Lester. Lester also orders Captain Becker to increase the ARC's security in the wake of Helen's attempted infiltration. Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Evening News, journalist Mick Harper, (still pursuing his quest to uncover the ARC's secrets after the incident with the mammoth in Episode 2.6), is trying to convince his editor, Katherine Kavanagh, of the reality of prehistoric creatures roaming freely. His editor, however, is unimpressed, and gives Harper one final chance to obtain proof, otherwise, he's out of a job. After unsuccessfully trying to get the truth out of Jenny Lewis, Harper decides to wait by the ARC for any activity. Back at the ARC, the Anomaly Detection Device dectects an anomaly opening in the middle of a crowded hospital: Abby, Cutter, Connor and Becker proceed to investigate. Unknown to them, they're being followed by Harper. After some investigation, the team discover that a group of Diictodon have emerged from the anomaly, chewing through electrical wires and playing havoc with the hospital's electrical systems. Connor and Becker proceed to evacuate the hospital: unfortunately, Abby and Cutter fall afoul of Harper, who locks them in an operating theatre with the anomaly and a young woman going into labour. Harper manages to obtain a photograph of one of the Diictodon roaming wild, which he presents to his editor as proof of his theory: however, she remains sceptical. Trapped inside, Abby is forced to employ her knowledge of zoology to help the pregnant woman give birth, whilst evading a rampant pack of Diictodon who are returning through the anomaly. The birth goes off without a hitch, and the Diictodon are returned safely through the anomaly, except for two which are left in the care of Abby and Connor. At the ARC, Helen is waiting for an oppurtunity to strike at the ARC. One of the Cleaners mentions they will never get in with the increased security: however, Helen reveals her secret weapon: a clone of Cutter himself. The clone enters the ARC undetected, despite arousing the suspicions of Lester, Jenny and Sarah Page. Once inside, the Cutter clone deactivates the ARC's security, whereupon Helen and her army of Cleaner clones launch a surprise attack on the facility. The ARC's staff are overpowered and Lester, Jenny and Sarah are captured and locked in a storage room by Helen. Upon their return to the ARC, Cutter, Connor and Abby are ambushed by the Cleaners: Abby and Connor are put with the other captives, while Helen leaves Cutter free for interrogation. However, the group are freed from captivity by Becker and using sound footage from a past interrogation of Helen (in Episode 1.4), create a sound clip of Helen's voice ordering the clones to stand down. Meanwhile, Helen and the Cutter clone interrogate Nick: Helen explains that the ARC's work will ultimately result in the creation of the Future Predators and the eventual destruction of the earth unless she stops it, despite Nick's warnings her interference with evolution will never yield the result she desires. Helen also produces the artefact she acquired from Christine Johnson's soldiers, claiming that Nick knows its purpose. Unaware of what it does, but unwilling to let Helen know, Nick pretends to know its purpose, but refuses to tell Helen. Unwilling to be thwarted, Helen orders the Cutter clone to shoot Nick unless he reveals the artefact's purpose. Nick tries to appeal to the clone, telling it it has free will and the right to make its own decisions, not blindly following Helen's will: despite some initial misgivings, the clone remains focused on its task- Helen comments that the clones have little intelligence and are subserviant to her will (prompting Nick to ask whether she subjected Stephen to the same fate). With a second to spare, Nick gives in to Helen's demands. However, Becker and Connor have broken into the ARC's security system and, despite some initial resistance from the Cleaner clones, manage to broadcast the sound clip of Helen's voice throughout the ARC, triggering an immediate reaction in the Cleaners, who stand down, despite the real Helen screaming at them to obey her. However, Helen still has control over one: the Cutter clone. She orders it to complete its mission, then flees into the ARC. The Cutter clone takes a bomb out of a case and prepares to detonate it, when Nick pleads with it, urging it to make its own decisions, rather than obey Helen. He urges it to want to live, but the clone, having no fear of death, is unmoved, though it tells Nick to save himself before it detonates the bomb. Once he is safe, the Cutter clone detonates the bomb, killing itself and the Cleaner clones, along with causing massive damage to the ARC. The ARC is evacuated, but in the aftermath, Cutter realises Helen is not present. Despite the pleading of the team not to go back for her (as Jenny puts it "She wouldn't lift a finger to save you!"), Cutter runs back into the ARC, finding a semi-concious Helen and the artefact. He takes it from her, but Helen is not done: she gets to her feet and pulls a gun on Cutter, telling him "The future is more important that either of us!". Helen apologises for what she is about to do as she takes aim at Cutter, but claims it is the only way to save the future. Cutter coldly taunts her, saying "You know what, Helen? You're not as smart as I thought you were!". Furious, Helen shoots him in the chest, then runs off. Connor goes back into the ARC looking for Cutter, only to find him dying on the floor. Cutter hands Connor the artifact, and tells him to unravel its secrets, (along with attempting a final message to Claudia Brown) before he finally dies. Connor carries Cutter's body out of the ARC, and the team mourn his death as one. Cast * Nick Cutter — Douglas Henshall * Connor Temple — Andrew-Lee Potts * Abby Maitland — Hannah Spearritt * Jenny Lewis — Lucy Brown * James Lester — Ben Miller * Captain Becker - Ben Mansfield * Helen Cutter - Juliet Aubrey * Sarah Page - Laila Rouass * The Cleaner - Tim Faraday * Mick Harper - Ramon Tikaram * Katherine Kavanagh - Ruth Gemmell Rating Errors * When Mick Harper approaches the Diictodon to make the photo, he has a camera in his hand. But then he takes the snapshot with his handy. * Just before the Cutter replica sets off the bomb, all of the cleaner replicas dissapear Continuity *This episode marks the return of Mick Harper (the journalist from Episode 2.6) who vowed that he would find out the truth about ARC). *When Helen looks at Nicks anomaly model, a note is seen with the words "Smilodon, Pleistocene". This note stands for the anomaly from Episode 2.3 Trivia * This episode is the first one in which someone was killed by something other than a creature. 3.03, Episode